Breath of Death VII is an old school RPG where you find your party members and fight random battles with a turn based system. Part of the charm to this game is that it mimics the original Dragon Quest games in color, menus, maps and even the feel of the towns.

After each battle, each party member gets restored to full health, including dead characters. Even if you escape, you get full health. This makes the game streamlined and easy even on hard difficulty. To compensate for this, the game balances out by powering up the monsters after each round. Their attack strength keep going up by 10%. It puts pressure to finish the fight fast. There is also no run, but instead its relegated to a magic skill given to one character. One of the biggest enjoyments that I get out of the game is the ability to chose one of two bonuses every time a character reaches a new level. Do you chose this spell or that spell? Do you want +20 Max HP and +20 strength or +10 Strength + 10 Willpower +10 Magic +10 Vitality? After level 30, the game runs out of choices for you.

The challenge is in your MP / mana. You will get some back after each level, but outside of an Inn or a save point (you can save on the fly too). You won't be able to refill your magic. On the surface, fighting and button mashing make quick work of enemies. Deeper into any dungeon makes fighting difficult without using magic or techniques (both cost MP / mana). While battles are random, the dungeons have specific numbers of battles before the random battles get down to 0. So if you fight 20 random battles, you won't have any other random battles to fight. This works well, because you can go deep into a dungeon, have no mana left and need to walk back out of the dungeon. Having 0 remaining random battles ensures your survival. Since there is no sort of easy teleportation. A few dungeons force you to beat the boss and walk back. Luckily there is a run button.

Spells get upgraded. The heal spell can get upgraded to resurrect. Making it easy if a character dies that you're trying to heal, well they're just resurrected! There aren't items, but there are potions. You can't buy these, you need to find them in caves. They resurrect and give full health to any character. These are necessary if your lone healer dies. There is a health regenerating zombie though and a vampire sort of attack with another character.

The leader of your party is a silent (yet thinking) skeleton, a ghost princess healer, a vampire nerd and a prince zombie. They are all powerful in their own way. In battle, two of the characters can join forces for big attacks. The only problem is both need to be alive to do them. Its not a problem toward the beginning of the game.

About 7 hours into the game, I noticed there is a combo system. Sure its always been there. I just didn't find it useful. Every attack builds a combo. There are special combo boosts and breakers that when used will multiply the damage by the combo, but reset the combo to 0. It would be more useful if these specials weren't already the highest damagers in general. You can keep using them to kill the enemies quickly without having to build a combo.

When I played, I found normal (medium) difficulty far too easy, so I played on hard. On hard, the bosses became insurmountable. Like any RPG, grinding made any boss easier. The menu has a 'fight' command that will cue up a random battle for you! For the most part random battles are a numbers game. Not your stats vs their stats, but your remaining members against their remaining members. The party that outnumbers the other wins unless one of them balances out the numbers.

Bosses were a major issue on hard, which made for an hour long grind on many of them. One boss, I had literally run out of enemies to grind and couldn't beat a boss. I had to leave the dungeon by walking mind you and grind on over world enemies. Then walk all the way back to the boss with 0 enemies. It just felt unnecessary and hindered my ability to enjoy the game.

For equipment, Breath of Death is bare bones. You have a weapon and armor. No headgear, no accessory. Towns don't have more than a couple weapons and armor for your four characters. There are a few treasures here and there in dungeons. Treasures in towns get relegated to jokes, like "A true hero wouldn't steal from a person, even if there's a bazooka in there." There is no interaction with anything outside of talking to townspeople. Nothing hidden in book shelves or pots. It is sad how little effort got put into the details outside of readable tombstones in one lone graveyard.

The world itself feels big enough. There are around 10+ dungeons and 3+ towns. You won't get to travel the oceans or visit far off lands, but the dungeons are the real maps. Each dungeon feels big enough. There are mostly underground areas, a prison and the ruins of giant towns. You can tackle them pretty openly. The second area has three dungeons you can visit. Yet, with the fourth, it bluntly tells you not to go in there yet. It just seems like a cheap reason, when other RPGs would point out we need the X to continue.

The game really wants to hang its hat on comedy. There are funny tombstones and excessive references to classic lines in other video games. "Hey listen!" "Its a secret to everybody!" "Master of unlocking." "Welcome strangah! what-cha buyin" "I am error" "Motherbound" "Perhaps your prince is in another castle?" Even a reference to Bionic Commando that made me laugh, because that one was unexpected. The rest of the references have become commonplace on the Internet. Not only that, but there is a replica / parody of Zelda 2's version of Death Mountain. Other than that, the humor doesn't seem overwhelming. Sometimes less is more.

I just didn't care for the game's humor like I did with Cthulhu Saves the World. Breath of Death VII feels like it doesn't have its own jokes and relies too much on your knowledge from 25 year old dialog.

Then there are the game's other issues. Three years after its release, the game still has issues here and there. Enemies immune to poison, still get poisoned. Two dungeons have no music. That could be a good thing when all the other dungeons have the same music that overstays its welcome. Getting experience still seems glitched. plenty of times, I'd look at the status screen. I needed 4,000 more EXP, then beat another group of enemies earning 1,500 EXP only to discover that I still needed 4,000 more EXP. In a game where grinding is necessary, its an issue. I'm left with a feeling of knowing that I have to invest another hour into the game grinding before I'll face the boss of any area again.

If you don't want to get too involved with a 40 - 80 hour RPG, Breath of Death could be for you. With saving anywhere and refilling your HP after every battle, that makes for an easy game. Some people like easy! Some complain that the game is 3 - 5 hours, that's perfect for $3 in my opinion. For the $1 combo pack that I bought it in. I feel like I got my money's worth thanks to hard mode. As for this being a fun, entertaining game, it wasn't. I spent several hours grinding to overcome boss after boss. Maybe I made it too hard by playing hard mode and turned a 5 hour game into an 11 hour game with 6 hours of grinding, but I can only review my own experience with the game. The humor just wasn't there for me like it was with Cthulhu saves the world.

It's been awhile since I played through this game, but I'd like to write my lasting thoughts on it. The game was incredibly short for the style of game it was; however, for what it was it was an amazing experience. It typically can be purchased for next to nothing during steam sales and for what you pay vs what you get, this game is amazing. Decent story line, fun old style turn based RPG, and let's not forget the humor spread all throughout the game. If you're a fan of the old style RPGs like Dragon Warrior or Final Fantasy this game will delight you for a few hours.

Breath of Death VII, along with Cthulu Saves the World, is a nice throwback for JRPG fans and has some nice comedic dialogue and characters that'll entertain you. It's about 6 hours for both games, for a measly 3 dollars. So you should get it, you cutie, you.

The first(?) Zeboyd game and it's a solid 4 hour RPG that is often on sale for a buck along with the more polished CSTW.

You're certainly not missing out on anything by not playing BoDVII, but if you've got a hankering for SNES style gameplay you'd be hard pressed to do worse. The dialogue and humour are a touch predictable and can get tiresome after sometime; there's only so many times you can retread same jokes about RPG tropes and cliches that have been repeated ad infinitum elsewhere on the net.

Notable features are the limited encounter rate per dungeon that still allow you to reach a decent level and the option at level ups on how you wish your character to advance. Admittedly the latter feature is not fully realised in this game as the "alternative" paths are limited in their viability by equipment.

It's a fun little game and extremely cheap and short! If you're really strapped for time though you would probably be better off with the game it is bundled with as all the features here are better implemented in that game.

This is simple and short old school RPG. Four characters travel through undead postapocalyptic world, through linear storyline and side adventures. Characters constantly making jokes about world and game itself. World around them - is a total mess. Characters and NPCs reactions idiotic. So if you into serious RPG - try something else.

Game mechanics is easy to understand and follow. There is no hard gear choices and complex strategy (maybe there is on harder difficulty). But it is quite addictive.

Good game, well worth even the full price, but it comes on sale often enough that you can get it for less if you wait.

The JRPG genre in general effectively line up battles triggered by wandering and you simply play them one after another while travelling location to location, and once you hit an experience threshold you level up (thus the RPG element). What I find is that the RPG aspects of a JRPG are usually very fun as you can play the character(s) in a variety of ways. This is what I like about the genre. The weakness of the genre is the game progression can be shallow and it forces you from one location to the next without much choice where combat can be 'too easy'.

This one is a little different. While it is still linear to a point, the game doesn't feel especially linear. It feels a little more Open world which is quite novel for JPRG. Each area has max battles, and the open terrain area counts as one so you can get rid of them all early so that you're not interrupted while moving around, or you save them up to get higher experience from later battles. If you find yourself losing you can trigger battles allowing yourself to level up. So while that would be grinding, at least you can never get a build where you have to start over. From my point of view, this ability to choose and wander is a definite plus for a game in this genre.

The combat is also enjoyable. Play the game on expert otherwise it plays too easy - you'll only need to hit enter for most battles which takes away from the game experience. Play it on expert and you have to work thru with the skills chosen from leveling up to win many battles - much more enjoyable.

If you're reading this to compare a good JPRG vs. a bad one and why you should choose this one - see my review on Penny arcade 4 for what a JPRG shouldn't be).

Summary - There is no "wrong" build, reasonable number of skills to choose from thereby allowing you to solve the game in variety of ways and combat can be fun on expert.

Breath Of Death VII is, as the name suggests, a traditional 2D top down RPG in the vein of many a (S)NES classic. It is a bit short, but has all the essentials of a game in this genre, such as a bickering party, annoying random encounters, romance and gold. Don't expect much more, however! The story (as well as most levels) is very linear, there is not much variety to character development and equipment, and only one combat item exists (potions). Nonetheless, the game has quite a bit of charme, as it really doesn't take itself serious on the storytelling level - this is a really good thing that actually (paradoxically) gives this otherwise rather generic and forgettable game some character and makes it somewhat memorable.

The creators of this game succeeded in reproducing and improving the game play of classic NES RPGs. They got rid of unnecessary features and streamlined the whole experience, but they completely failed to capture the charm, atmosphere and "style" of the old classics like Breath of Fire or FF VII (as referenced in the title). My biggest problem with the story, characters and atmosphere was that they don't take anything serious and constantly break down the fourth wall.

Marvellous game! The humour and witty puns thrown into this adventure leaves you engaged as you go along your journey. The RPG elements of the game are a major attraction for me as I love RPG games and this game does it in an old school retro style way that really makes you relive the olden days of gaming. For an RPG Maker VX ACE created game this is beautifully done and so is its sequel Cthulu saves the world. Would recommend buying this game as it is extremely pleasing and relaxing if you want something to play at your own pace. You can save at anytime so you can play for as long or as little as you like. Enjoy.

Breath of Death VII is a classic styled RPG with some interesting improvements to the genre. In many ways, this is a very simple and standard RPG. You have a party that maxed out at four people, basic stats, spells, random encounters, leveling up, gear management... basically, if you've ever played an RPG before, you'll get this game. And even if you haven't, you can have fun with it as an introductory one. However, fans of RPGs will appreciate a few of the innovations here.

One cool twist on the formula is that, upon leveling up, you get to choose one of two upgrades. They might be new spells, enhancements for old spells, better stats, or any combination of these. This give some customization and replayability to the game. Another is the upon winning a battle, you will recover some of your MP and ALL of your HP, plus anyone who died during the fight will be revived. This makes it easier to get from place to place without having to use up MP to heal, carry healing items, or walk back to towns constantly in order to progress. An especially nice feature for those mazier dungeons. By far my favorite addition to this game is how it handles random encounters. Whenever you go to a new area, it will have a set number of random encounters in it. This means that, while walking around, you will randomly encounter enemies that many times. After you have that many battles, you will no longer have any random encounters there. This means that you can clear out an area and focus on exploring without the distractions. However, if you want to grind more in that area, you can simply bring up the menu and select the fight option and BOOM, you're in a battle. It's a beatiful way to work around the annoyance of rancom encounters while keeping the grinding aspect possible.

The whole design seems to be built around being a fast, enjoyable RPG. You can speed up your walk to a run with the tap of a button. In battles, your fight still images of monsters with sparing animations for attacks. Quick displays, combos, and a decent engine all make this game move by swiftly, even when mindlessly grinding. You are also sometimes teleported out of mazey areas when finished so you don't have to backtrack. And the simplicity of gameplay (aside from strategic bossfights or harder difficulties) blends all these things together to deliver a very fast paced RPG experience.

I also liked the retro style of art and play, even though I never really played much for old RPGs. I'd comment on the music but I mostly had the sound off... watching stuff while I was grinding... so sorry I can't say. The simple display and gameplay... that retro feeling is really nice. It's much less intimidating than some other RPGs I've tried. The characters are alright, and some of the dialogue is interesting. There are a few red herrings in there as well, unless I missed something :P It's a cool little game.

However, there are a few issues. While it is built around making the RPG stuff less annoying, it still includes those RPG things. Random encounters are limited... but they're there. Grinding is easy... but it's still tedious. Lack of a map makes the mazey dungeons and even some of the overworld more confusing than they need to be. Some of the display is a bit lacking, not telling you all the information you might want. You can probably use your head a bit to remember what enemy is low on health or poisoned or other such things, but this game doesn't have much of a reason NOT to display such things other than for the retro style.

Still, overall, Breath of Death VII is a really fun game. If you like RPGs, retro games, and the simpley yet effective gameplay style, this game is worth checking out. At the time, I've only been able to find it in a two pack with Cthulhu Saves the World, a game in the same style, for 3 dollars. I would say it's worth it if you're looking for some light and fun RPG action. What do I think of Cthulhu Saves the World? Well go look for my review on that game for yourself and see if the pack is worth it for you. However, I WILL say it's very similar in style, so if you're interested in one, you'll probably like them both. Breath of Death VII gets a 7/10 for being a fun RPG that does its best to lessen the inherent burdens of RPGs while still keeping those iconic characteristics present.